The most astute of hockey inclined calendar experts will
notice a typo relating to the holiday Christmas. It's listed as the 25th of
December on your standard, run of the mill calendar, when in fact it should be
the 5th of March. After all, that's when the Trade Deadline is scheduled this
year.

For many NHL enthusiasts, this is one of the best days of
the 365 we have at our disposal, yearly. We book the day off work or school -
the reasoning we give is usually less than truthful, *cough* *sniffle* - and flip
on TSN's Tradecentre for a glorious 10 hours (no offense to Sportsnet). Watching the
ever talented James Duthie stall for the first four or so hours before the
first trade is usually made is just as enjoyable as hearing the
"Insiders" break the blockbusters.

The Flames always seem to sneak into the picture one way or
another at the Deadline, but this year they're primed to take a front and
center position. Outside of maybe Mike Cammalleri, they probably won't be
involved in a massive blockbuster deal, but they could very well be the busiest
team on Wednesday - Burke has hinted as much. The Flames have many pieces in
play that could add the needed depth a contender requires when making a run at
Lord Stanley's hardware.

Forwards

Mike Cammalleri is the obvious one, and we've taken a look
at 4 landing spots (LA, NJ, PIT, PHX) speculated at being likely ones but fact
is there are a few other teams that could have interest in Cammi.

Anaheim is one team feeling the heat after St. Louis loaded up with
Miller and Ott. The Ducks are not only one have one of the best NHL rosters,
but also one of the best prospect bases. Guys like Emerson Etem and Hampus
Lindholm are the calibre of prospect I'd take straight up for Cammalleri.
Others like William Karlsson, Rickard Rakell and Stefan Noeson aren't too far
behind. Corey Pronman ranked the Ducks' top prospects last summer, so you can
take a look and cobble a deal together yourself.

The Tampa
Bay Lightning and New York Rangers are two teams that have been mentioned in
Cammalleri rumours. The Bolts are also stacked at the prospect level (rid your
mind of that Jonathan Drouin scenario) and could offer up a healthy return for
the 31 year old. In New York, JT Miller is a top gun prospect there (he was a line-mate of Johnny Gaudreau's at last year's World Juniors), with former Oil King
Michael St. Croix and defenseman Brady Skjei being other solid prospects the
Flames could look at.

The Ottawa Senators have been rumored to be sniffing around at Matt Moulson in their quest to find Spezza a winger and if that falls through, they could look to the Flames and Cammi as a solution.

Finally, the Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly for some reason open
to dealing Nazem Kadri or Jake Gardiner. Do you do a straight up deal for one
of those two with Cammalleri? Although, in Kadri's case, you'd probably need to
add a little something more to make that work.

Lee Stempniak is a guy who hasn't been attracting quite as
much attention as Cammalleri, but may very well be on the move as well. The 31
year old as had an up and down year with the Flames and is an UFA at season's end.

Teams like the Tampa Bay
Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings have been
mentioned as potential suitors for the skilled, yet gritty winger. The list is
probably much longer though, as I'm sure any contender wouldn't mind adding a middle tier scorer that can grind tough minutes in the playoffs.

The return for
Stempniak will be nowhere near that for Cammalleri, but he could still land a
pick or prospect - maybe even a combo of the two. My best case scenario for
Stempniak is a 2nd rounder, with the realistic one being a decent,
"B" prospect.

It was also mentioned by Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun on the weekend that some teams are
kicking tires on TJ Galiardi. The 25 year old could add to the much belabored
element of depth on a contending roster. Galiardi probably won't fetch much on
the open market and if he's dealt it'll probably end up being a Blake Comeau, low
draft pick, type deal. Best case scenario for me is a 3rd round pick, although
a 4th/5th seems a lot more likely.

Jiri Hudler probably isn't going anywhere but if someone
offers a real juicy deal (1st round pick +), you need to consider it, right? I wonder
if Hudler is worth more than Cammalleri on the open market? I'm inclined to say
yes.

Defenseman

We might make fun of Chris Butler a lot around these parts, but apparently some
teams are considering making a play for him. There's much talk of Andrew
MacDonald out of Long Island and how the
asking price is a 1st round pick (The Flyers acquired him today), so Chris Butler, who adds similar elements to
the game in my opinion, could also fetch a decent return.

Best case scenario
for Butler would be a 3rd rounder, although I think Burke should try and package
him with someone else (Cammalleri, maybe?) and get a better return with the
combo.

Ladislav Smid has been very serviceable in his time with the
Flames in my humble opinion and he's exactly the type of depth defenseman teams
win with. He'd put his soul in front of a shot if it meant winning the hockey
game, especially a playoff one. Poor guy has been living the rebuild life for
about his entire pro career.

The Washington Capitals were noted as allegedly having
interest in the 28 year old. Smid has another 3 years left on his deal after
this one so a player for picks/prospect genre of deal may not work out in this
case. Burke mentioned he wanted to do some "hockey deals" as well, so
this might be one. Maybe he can copy some of David Poile's Erat magic and snag a
top prospect from Washington?
Probably not.

If someone offers you an asset for Shane O'Brien, you
totally take it and funny enough there was talk that some teams were inquiring
about the defenseman listed as "buried" on Cap Geek. Don't hold your breath on that one though.

Dennis Wideman
is another guy who the Flames might shop around to gauge interest but the money
($5.25 million), term (3 more years) and play (poor) may scare teams away. It probably doesn't make sense to give Wideman away at this point when you'll need to reach the cap floor next summer.
Plus, as the team improves slowly, they may acquire some more offensive talent
that could pad Wideman's stats on the power-play and the Flames could flip him
for some real value.

Finally, there are kids like Sven Baertschi, Johnny Gaudreau, Max Reinhart and Mark Jankowski who may garner some interest from other teams. Jankowski and Baertschi don't seem to have Burke's support, so there's an off-chance they could be included in a "hockey deal". That said, the Flames are more interested in retaining their youth than dealing it, so there's not a high probability of any of these guys moving.

Sum It Up

With lot's of moving parts and not a lot of trades - like
past years - heading into the day, this Deadline promises to be an exciting,
eventful one. The Flames could be a oft mentioned name on broadcasts for the
moves they make - or the ones they don't. Burke has let it be known he's not a
patient man and I doubt he waits until the Draft in June to do something
significant if he has the opportunity to do it tomorrow. So buckle up, friends,
we're in for a fun one!

Christian Roatis writes about the Calgary Flames here at FlamesNation and covers the NHL Entry Draft for FutureConsiderations. Follow him on Twitter @CRoatis!

Andy Macdonald got a 2014 3rd & a 2015 2nd from Philly + a no name prospect. Maybe Butler can get you that 3rd or heaven forbid a 2nd.

Glad to see the amount of moves already today, wow, the type of trades you see tomorrow, cant imagine what tomorrow is going to be like. As scary as it will be, the longer we wait until tomorrow the better to get an improved return. Surprised to see a few of these guys sold for a 4th rounder. I think Cap space can be worth something & Burke makes some astute moves utilizing the boat load of cap space we have.

Pity, I was hoping that they'd be stuck with that deal and the Canucks decline would be long and hard.

Well, they'll be stuck with part of that salary for the next how many years. I would say the return was OK if they still had Schneider. So look at the big picture, Horvat, Markstrom & Mattias & eat part of Luongo salary for 2 Franchise goalies in Schneider & Luongo. How does Gillis have a job?

Mattias is a sheltered bottom 6 center who is 26 and doesn't have great possession. Markstrom is a #2 backup for Florida with a NHL career sv% of 0.898 who is currently 24 and is 0.874 in 12 games this season. He's a bit like a younger version of MacBackup. Perhaps more like Berra or Ramo, only not as good. There's certainly a whiff of upside there, but he sure sucks right now! Really, this has to be a disappointing return for Luongo given that the Canucks took on some of his salary.

A bottom 6 center fills Vancouver's immediate needs since they've had some injuries down the middle of the ice. Markstrom is now the Canucks' #1 backup goalie. They will likely have to spell Lack at some point down the stretch due to the compressed schedule, so expect them to miss out on at least a couple of points because of Markstrom. Even if Lack continues to play well next season, they're going to need a better backup for him. I'm not sure if Vancouver has any quality goalie prospects in their system ready to step up either. Joacim Eriksson was called up for a game earlier this season, but got lit up and was immediately sent back down.

Vancouver's odds of making the playoffs just hit a brick wall without a helmet on. This news is great for the Flames though, even beyond schadenfreude. Florida is tied with Calgary in the standings, but have been making do with below average tending from Tim Thomas and some pretty awful backups. Luongo should give them a nice boost down the stretch! This should gift the Flames with a better draft pick without the usual price of sucking more.

Re: Lou...3 more yeasrs @ 6.7M/salary then the last 4 years combined barely total that figure..will he really play for 1M$/season or does he screw the Cansucks like they did him....4 years@5.7M caphit would be great for Vcr to swallow. Why the press conference today fLames? Did Burke need to see his mug on TSN or was there a true reason?

I'm feeling A) a bit jealous of Buffalo, who seem to be able to turn lead into draft pics, and B) a little nervous about Burke's apparently plan to be a buying team next year. On point B, I'd probably also be nervous if he announced the plan was to tank hard for McDavid, so I guess it's damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

He didn't say "I'm going to be a buyer next season". He said "I'd like to be a buyer next season" - he also said "I'd like to be a buyer this season". Yeah, semantics, but really? Come on.

So he said...?????..was this a political speech? He simply couldn't help himself, second busiest day of the NHL calendar and he needed his mug and ego front and center...misses the center of the universe does he??

If I was Luongo I would tweet out a picture of me driving away looking in the rear view mirror with a silhouette of Rogers Arena and Vancouver in the background and my middle finger sticking straight up high!

So he said...?????..was this a political speech? He simply couldn't help himself, second busiest day of the NHL calendar and he needed his mug and ego front and center...misses the center of the universe does he??

Really??? Why would you care about how busy or how he attends to his tasks? He probably has his reasons for someones benefit for doing a pressor to update the media where things are at. But really, you criticize him for this? I guess haters gotta hate.

If I was Luongo I would tweet out a picture of me driving away looking in the rear view mirror with a silhouette of Rogers Arena and Vancouver in the background and my middle finger sticking straight up high!

Apparently he's already left town, couldn't get out of there quick enough.

On a side note, reports are indicating that ticket prices in Florida are set to sky rocket to $12.

He was asked by the org to have media availability. Get your head outta your ass. But I guess the "bold move" of locking down Fasth was so ballsy you had to troll on over here from ON, just to give your brilliant insight. Thanks for that.

Anyone else think that maybe Runblad & Brisebois for a 2nd round pick is a smoking good deal. Why wouldn't we look at a deal like that??? Friggin Chicago. Like WTF!!

When you break it down it comes to Phoenix turning Kyle Turris (3rd overall and believed by some commenters here on FN to be worth no more than a 4th round pick when he was sitting out) into a 2nd round pick and Antoine Vermette.

Poor asset management on that one.

Ottawa moved a pick and the highly though-of Rundblad to get him and he has filled in well.

Lesson is: don't get too attached to your prospects. This includes Gaudreau.

1. He wants size.
2. He values prospects more than picks, but still values picks.
3. He's willing to retain salary.
4. He's willing to take on bad contracts.

I'm sure most GM's in the market already had a good idea of what Burke was looking for, but this presser will clear up any doubts they may have had and, if nothing else, at least bring Burke and the Flames to the front of their minds. It's a small thing, but it was probably worth 15 minutes of Burke's lunch-hour. If Burke jumps one other GM in the right trade-partner's calling list, that could be the difference between a sweet trade and UFA's walking.

When you break it down it comes to Phoenix turning Kyle Turris (3rd overall and believed by some commenters here on FN to be worth no more than a 4th round pick when he was sitting out) into a 2nd round pick and Antoine Vermette.

Poor asset management on that one.

Ottawa moved a pick and the highly though-of Rundblad to get him and he has filled in well.

Lesson is: don't get too attached to your prospects. This includes Gaudreau.

When you break it down it comes to Phoenix turning Kyle Turris (3rd overall and believed by some commenters here on FN to be worth no more than a 4th round pick when he was sitting out) into a 2nd round pick and Antoine Vermette.

Poor asset management on that one.

Ottawa moved a pick and the highly though-of Rundblad to get him and he has filled in well.

Lesson is: don't get too attached to your prospects. This includes Gaudreau.

Wow, an Oilers fan telling Flames fans to not get attached to our prospects.

Your team is poo, and no matter how many words you manage to string together, they'll still be poo.

When you break it down it comes to Phoenix turning Kyle Turris (3rd overall and believed by some commenters here on FN to be worth no more than a 4th round pick when he was sitting out) into a 2nd round pick and Antoine Vermette.

Poor asset management on that one.

Ottawa moved a pick and the highly though-of Rundblad to get him and he has filled in well.

Lesson is: don't get too attached to your prospects. This includes Gaudreau.

Kinda like Yakapoo eh? I don't remember people saying Turris was only worth a fourth, I think the conversation was whether we should have flipped Backlund for Turris & all the heated debate about what Backs was worth. But correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Still, how can you possibly come out with don't get too attached about our prospects, including Gaudreau? That would be like us saying on an Oiler thread to not get excited when you drafted Hall & Nugent -Hopkins or even Yaks for that matter. I remember many many Oil fans salivating when you signed J Schultz. Getting attached & excited about young players you hope will one day be top elite players is what being a fan & posting on forums is all about. Rex, you should be ashamed of yourself. I would have expected you to be all excited about getting Fasth. Anyway, forgive me if I don't pay attention to the lesson.:)

Kinda like Yakapoo eh? I don't remember people saying Turris was only worth a fourth, I think the conversation was whether we should have flipped Backlund for Turris & all the heated debate about what Backs was worth. But correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Still, how can you possibly come out with don't get too attached about our prospects, including Gaudreau? That would be like us saying on an Oiler thread to not get excited when you drafted Hall & Nugent -Hopkins or even Yaks for that matter. I remember many many Oil fans salivating when you signed J Schultz. Getting attached & excited about young players you hope will one day be top elite players is what being a fan & posting on forums is all about. Rex, you should be ashamed of yourself. I would have expected you to be all excited about getting Fasth. Anyway, forgive me if I don't pay attention to the lesson.:)

My gut feel at this point is that Burke will not be able to get the return he is looking for in the Cammy trade. He will end up signing him (overpay if necessary) to secure the asset and in turn trade him in the future at some point. That is good business if that is where it all ends up.